How to Remove Rust from Chrome

Brighten-up rusty chrome surfaces with this quick and easy trick using items you keep around the house. You’ll never worry about dirty-looking chrome surfaces again once you know this method to remove rust from chrome.

Today’s cleaning experiment comes to us courtesy of my little cousin Matt and his extensive knowledge about how to remove rust from chrome.

OK, I use the term “little” loosely. He’s like 6 foot a million. Anyway, Matt’s really good with cars and mechanical stuff and when he was visiting us in the Fall, he was telling me about his trick to clean old, rusty chrome parts that he finds. He said he likes to keep cola around but he never drinks it. He uses it for cleaning! Well, I had the perfect area to put this trick to the test, so of course I did!

MY LATEST VIDEOS

Here’s the shower curtain rod in our main bathroom.

We installed this curtain rod about 3 and a half years ago when we moved in and it had since become pretty encrusted in rust. Actually, I thought it was rusted right through and totally ruined and that we’d be needing to replace it soon. Nope! Not the case at all!

So I wiped back and forth a few times, just to give the cola some time to react with the rust.

Then I took a balled up piece of tinfoil and just used it to scrub away the rust, just like I would use a sponge or a rag or a dish scrubber.

The Results

All those crusty rusty parts just disappeared! The tinfoil did turn a bit black, so if you do this on a large area, you may need to get a fresh ball of tinfoil every once in awhile. You can see some of the black residue in the previous picture.

Once I was done removing all the rust, I took a dry, soft cloth and just wiped the chrome clean!

Just like new!

If you’re worried about causing scratches on your pretty chrome, don’t be. Here’s why it works so well: The cola contains carbonic acid which reacts with the iron oxide in the rust and breaks the bond with the chrome. The tinfoil is the exact perfect hardness because it’s harder than the rust, but not as hard as the chrome, so it completely destroys the rust while leaving the chrome in perfect condition. Neat, right?

So now you know how to remove rust from chrome fixtures! Try it out for yourself and let me know if you’re as excited about it as I am!

This does work! Here’s another one with tin foil. Know how your baking pans get a residue that’s kind of brown. It is the oil or fat that has adhered. Take bit of baking soda in the pan and scrub
with a ball of tin foil. I did this yesterday on a new stainless baking dish and it worked perfectly. Also work s on corning ware, etc.

will this work with the generic version too. I can buy it so cheep at Walmart like 98 cents I think… what can I say I try to be frugal. thanks for the amazing tutorial im so stoked to try this!!! my rusty old baking sheets will look brand new again!!

I usually keep wiping the area with the cola-soaked rag for about 30 seconds or so just to give everything time to react. You could leave your chrome item to soak in the cola for a little while though if it’s really tough. Just for a bit of rust in the bathroom though, I find just a few seconds of wiping is enough. 🙂

coke has now become green cleaning. could u imagine that this would be a commerical for the superbowl. a person drinks coke, falls asleep the coke spills on a rusty table, that has food wraped in silver paper. the person removes the wet food in silver paper, takes a rag and wipes the table., and lo and behold the table becomes shinny new. when the people return from where ever were they ask
where is the old table? the person replies here, they don’t belive the person, he takes a sip of coke and winks at the camerea….people run to line up to buy bottle of coke, when ask they reply it is green cleaning!

My shower rod is pretty disgusting and must be rusted through, cause it’s not working. I poured pepsi in a bowl (is there a difference between coke and pepsi?) soaked a white cloth and wiped a small area, just like you suggested. Then I scoured with a foil ball; got what looked like black dye all over the gloves(it came off with soap and water) and repeated the process several times. In my case it’s probably too encrusted and has probably been there too long. Other than replacing the rod, does anyone have any other thoughts. Thanks

You and your cousin are just darling! So glad that methods that have been used since the 60’s (and before), are still being used and / or rediscoverd by the 20 and 30 somethings now. Simple, quick effective and geneally chemical free. So much better for Mother Earth, your children and pets. Thanks so much for posting!

Well, I think he may have learned about this from working in the shop with my grampa so much while he was growing up. It’s so important that these little bits of information keep being passed down through the generations!

So many uses for coco cola. In the mid 1960’s a friends dad was racing late model stock cars. He was in need of a stick transmission, we boys found one in a scrap yard but it was froze up. Friends dad filled it full of coke and in 7 days it was freed up enough he was able to turn it and fill with oil..

My mother used to buy tuff cuts of beef then soak it for 24 to 48 hours to tenderize it, And people really drink that stuff.

In the late 1980’s I had a broken hub on one of my tractors I was trying to remove and had for got about coke. I used heat, penetrating oil and pressure from a jack to remove the hub with no luck.
Was talking to my dad after a week of trying to get the hub off, dad said to get some coke and pour it on the axel and let it run down around the hub. 3 days later I was able to grab the hub in my hands and slide it right off.

It worked on removing dried paint from my die cast gretsch drum rims. Didn’t add cola,,,just water. I had tried a paint solvent – white naphtha aka stove fuel, no luck but the tinfoil worked like a champ.

We always call it tinfoil. It’s a generational thing also a regional thing. Mom and Grandma used to call it tinfoil. And it easier to say. Foil used to be made of tin. Aluminum was discovered to be better years ago. Great post and great picture. When do we get to see Chris?

Hi Betty! Oops! I must have missed that comment. Hmm, I know cola is a great toilet bowl cleaner, so it’s definitely worth a try. You’ll need to leave the cola in there overnight though probably rather than for just a few moments.